Changes to Pantone Color Books

[Pattie-F]

Some of the Pantone Color Books that are pre-loaded in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign will be phased-out from future software updates starting in August 2022. To access the complete set of Pantone Color Books, Pantone requires customers to purchase a premium license through Pantone Connect and install a plug-in using Adobe Exchange.  

For more information, please refer to the following FAQ pages:

HelpX: Pantone FAQ (Photoshop) 

HelpX: Pantone FAQ (Illustrator) 

HelpX: Pantone FAQ (InDesign) 

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

UPDATE: 

Photoshop versions released in August, September, and October 2022 will continue to render Pantone colors Gray/Black unavailable. Updating to the November 2022 version of Photoshop will fix this workflow.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/pantone-color-books-photoshop.html

[David Cardillo, PRH]

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@Kevin Stohlmeyer wrote:

UPDATE: 

Photoshop versions released in August, September, and October 2022 will continue to render Pantone colors Gray/Black unavailable. Updating to the November 2022 version of Photoshop will fix this workflow.

https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/kb/pantone-color-books-photoshop.html

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To be clear, this works for spot channels created with the older, original versions of the Pantone color book files (e.g. Pantone+ Solid Coated, Pantone solid coated (lowercase)).

It does not work with updated color book files (ACB) from Pantone. (e.g. V4)

(If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say they "baked in" the tables they were licensed to use. There still is no "swatch" with color attributes. It's still a live table reference.)

[chad17509998t292]

Pantone+ CMYK Coated and Uncoated Libraries are incorrect after last update.

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

@chad17509998t292 What do you mean "incorrect"?

https://helpx.adobe.com/illustrator/kb/pantone-plus.html

[chad17509998t292]

actually what I should have said is the Pantone+ Solid Coated and Uncoated Library just disappeared after last update and appears to have been replaced with the CMYK library... or it was just removed altogether. Now textile printers have nothing.

[Stephen Marsh]

What exact version/build are you on?

Do you mean that they now open with the correct name and colour, but if edited they are then mapped to a hopefully "similar" hue/colour from another book such as APNA (rather than being displayed as black)?

[chad17509998t292]

What I should have stated was teh Pantone+ Solid Coated and Uncoated has been removed or replaced with the CMYK library.. Now textile printers have nothing.

[chad17509998t292]

they were there the day before yesterday before last "update"

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Please read the post I submitted in response to your query - Pantone has removed their libraries starting with this year's Adobe updates. You can either subscribe to Pantone Connect or download your previous .acb files and load them in your current Adobe installation.

[chad17509998t292]

Thansk Kevin, I'm actually using Photoshop primarily... I know most of the other Pantone libraries were removed a few weeks or months ago but Adobe stated they were keeping the Solid library and it has remained and I've been using it throughout several updates since then, until the last... what a nightmare for printers.. the workflow for selecting solid pantone colors with the dropper tool within a photoshop file is quite a task now. It seems to me one should just be able to purchase the libraries and load them into the app if money were the only issue. Are you aware of the reason behind the divorce? Pantone wants too much money or Adobe may be planning their own color library? system..? 😞

[Kevin Stohlmeyer]

Cant say for sure but I would point the finger at Pantone. Adding the color books into the appropriate Photoshop folders restores the functionality, but also Adobe has taken steps with the latest updates to preserve existing Spot Colors in Photoshop specifically based on the blowback from users.

Not pandering, but really do appreciate that they did that after unjustly taking hits for Pantone having a half-baked solution after removal.

[chad17509998t292]

Thats great Adobe is preserving existing spot colors now.. thats was a drag re-converting colors and a real headscratcher. If I might ask, how do I find and load the appropriate color book into the appropriate folders.. is there a link you could direct me to?.. I was looking for a work around but never found a resolution. I have the Pantone subscription but havent been able to find out how to get those libraries back in Adobe apps

[David Cardillo, PRH · Accepted solution]

go back to a previous installation (or a backup) in the application folder > Presets > Color Books

For Photoshop you're looking for files with the ACB extension.

Illustrator and InDesign can create swatches from ACO and ASE files.

[chad17509998t292]

Thanks DCardillo!

[Stephen Marsh]

but Adobe stated they were keeping the Solid library

By @chad17509998t292

Back in September, Adobe advised:

After November 2022, the only Pantone Color books that will remain are:

• Pantone + CMYK Coated
• Pantone + CMYK Uncoated
• Pantone + Metallic Coated

https://helpx.adobe.com/creative-cloud/adobe-color.html

[chad17509998t292]

my oversight... as I mentioned the Solid library was available after all the others dropped off so I must have assumed those were the ones they were keeping - without actually reading closely 🙂

[DaveJCummings]

Pantones were always the bane of my existence. Doing ad design for a newspaper, I'd get clients that submit images or PDFs that would go overboard with the Pantone and we'd have to convert it to something we could use, because we didn't have permission to use it

[Gramsterdam]

ORRRRRR, you could use some software that doesn't require you to become a complete slave to the money requirement for creativity. Just a thought...

https://www.culturehustleusa.com/products/freetone